Perfection
by purelyromantic
Summary: This day was perfect in many ways..." He ponders, while watching the two he loves the most... One-shot.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own any part of this. It all belongs to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. Thank you for inspiring me!

**Author's Note: **Though I am currently in the middle of another story this one-shot was clamouring to be written. I haven't used any names on purpose and I don't think it's hard to guess who is speaking and what it's about. I was rather pleased at how this turned out and really hope you do too.

Just to avoid any confusion this is set a few days after the end of Breaking Dawn.

Enjoy!

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This day was perfect in so many ways.

It was sunny despite the time of year when this area hardly saw a ray of sunshine. The rays sparkled off my skin as I leaned against a tree and watched the two fairy-like creatures, playing in the snow.

We were in our meadow. The past few months had been fraught with tension, fear and sadness. Now it was all behind us. My wife and I had decided that we needed some time alone. Just the three of us.

The three of us.

My gaze zeroed in on the tiny figure dancing along the snow, her long curls lifting gently in the winter breeze. She was leaping lightly into the air, trying to catch a snowflake, looking like a woodland sprite on a winter's day. She opened her palm and stared in fascination at the six figured crystal in her hand.

"Momma, look," she called.

My daughter…

That I had a reason to use that word was something I had not come to terms with yet. If it were possible to knock me senseless, then every instance I was reminded I had a child, it would happen.

She was an embodiment of Innocence. A miracle. A living, breathing symbol of the love and commitment my wife and I shared. I had thought she and I were perfect before but since the arrival of my very own bundle of joy, I was astounded at how perfection could become so much better.

There had been so many things that had been occupying my mind since I realized that my wife was carrying a child, that I had not had a chance to let the fact that I was a father sink in fully. At first, her pregnancy had petrified me. I had not planned for this, not even thought it could happen. I was so terrified at the thought of losing her, so furious at myself for allowing this to happen, at what was growing inside her, hurting her, killing her, that I had not any space to even think of it as our child.

I remember after the birth, while my wife was leaving one life to join another, I held my daughter in my hands for the first time. For one moment, time stopped. I gazed into her chocolate brown eyes, an exact replica of her mother's and found an unnamed, unfamiliar emotion bubbling in me, threatening to spill over.

Yet, concern for my wife had claimed my attention. Even the three blissful months we spent before the horror of the past few days, were marred with worry at her rapid growth. Try as we may, we couldn't banish the fear of the unknown. What would happen to her? Was she to have only a few years of life? Would we not have her forever?

And amidst all that, the threat that we would lose her and each other fell on us, like unholy demons from hell. The panic and anguish torturously stretched over a month. Though I shielded it from my wife, all the doubts that I had managed to dispel came crashing down on me once again. Was I so cursed that everyone I loved was to be wrenched from my grasp?

That moment when we thought all was lost, when there seemed to be no hope was one where I was rocked with grief. My wife held my hand and her eyes blazed with the words she did not speak; that we would not live without the other. My grief was for the little girl, _my_ girl that I would never watch grow up and never have the chance to shower with love…

But this was all past us. No more nightmares threatened to hurt her for now. And my newest status was finally beginning to dawn on me.

I had thought it would be impossible to experience more joy than I did with my wife. But as always she was the cause to surprise me. There were no words to describe how I felt now. I was a parent. A father. To a being, that surely had fallen from Heaven. The emotions that had stirred at her birth now had the chance to completely overwhelm me, without interruption.

My eyes followed her as she skipped along the snow, her tiny fists lumping snow together to throw at her mother. Her laugh, like chiming bells filled my entire being with warmth as she clapped her hands in obvious delight.

My gaze wandered to her mother. My wife. The woman who changed my life so drastically, who rescued me from the eternal darkness that I didn't even realize I was living in before she walked into it, blazing like a burning incarnation of Love and Beauty. My breath caught as it always did when I looked upon her.

She was my everything, the centre of my universe, the focal point of everything I did and dreamed and hoped. My love for her bordered on reverence for she had given me so much more than I ever thought I could have. She gave me her love when I was a deplorable monster, her trust when I was not worthy to receive it, her forgiveness when I had hurt her beyond belief…

As if this were not enough she made me a promise and bound herself to me with the most sacred of bonds. She gave me her body when I could have killed her, her soul to join me, her life to be with me forever and now she had given me her mind. She had surrendered every part of herself to me.

And this- this goddess had given me the most precious gift of all; the chance to be two things I never thought I could be, a husband and a father.

How could I continue to believe that I was damned? That I was cursed? I would not be blessed with an angel who, instead of walking divine streets, chose to walk beside me, to complete me, if that were so. We could not have created this perfect child if I were forever doomed. This beautiful child, who represented our union, the belief that the burning passion we held for each other could overcome every obstacle Fate would throw our way. Part of her and part of me…

My wife was walking towards me, her beautiful smile serene. She held our daughter in her arms. I could not tear my eyes away from the image they created together, Madonna and the Child, love emanating from every part of them. That this love was exclusively for me made me heady. Yes, I was blessed beyond all imagination.

The little girl slipped from her mother's hold and ran to me, her sparkling voice crying, "Daddy!" as I opened my arms to her. Swinging her up I let her laughter warm me to the core. Bringing her face inches from mine I looked deep into the beautiful brown and tried to convey every emotion I felt for her before I softly placed a kiss on her forehead. She raised one hand and touched my cheek and I was filled with the same feeling I felt, now doubled as I realized she felt it too.

My wife joined my side and I gathered her into my embrace.

"What are you thinking," I asked her.

Wordlessly she took my face in her hands and pushed away the barriers. The love I was feeling for her and our child was intensified as I felt her love merge with it. The overpowering feeling nearly brought me to my knees in devout gratefulness at what I had been bestowed with. I brought my lips to hers and hoped it expressed the strength of my love, my gratitude at what I had.

The calmness overtook me as the golden head lay on my chest and the mahogany one rested on my shoulder. I enveloped them both in my arms and in my love and vowed, as I did everyday, to protect the most priceless gifts I had been given.

_This_ was perfection…

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A/N:

I eagerly await reviews! 


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